The Indiana State sentinel., 1887-04-13
The Biggest Hallway Robbery Of the Age
Unsarthsd 1T PIttsburg.
EcGss Of Employees Of the Panhandle Com
pany Lodged in Jail.
Tbs Amount Of Property SIOls1 Reaches
Nearly Half Million D,Ilsrs.
Houses IN Various Parts of Pfttsburg
Raided by the Police and a Large
Quantity of Property Recovered.
s1uPENDoUs RAILWAY RoBBERY.
Arrest of a Large Number of Employees
OF the Pan-HanoIe Company.

Arrest of Large Number of Employees
OF the Pan-HanoIe Company.
PITTsBURG, April 1.-THE most impot-
rant arrests ever made in this part OF the
country were begun at an early hour this
morning, and the officers OF the Pan Han.
die Railroad now have in custody the most
daring gang OF railroad robbers this coun-
try has ever known. How many members
belong to il is not known, but they run up
into the hundreds. Their stealings extend
ed over period of two or three years and
tie amount stolen reaches nearly $0OO,0 O,0OO.
Simultaneous arrests were made all along
the line of the Panhandle Road between
here and Columbus. Warrants have been
in the hands of officers for some time, and
the persons arrested will comprise nearly
the entire freight men of the line. They
include the conductors, brakemen, en-.
.gineers and 6remen. The ring-leaders of
the gang are outside the railroad business,
but are known, and some of them are now
be3ieved to be under arrest
The first arrests were made about .
o'clock this morning, the police surprising
eighteen men at their boarding houses.
The men were taken at once to the jail.
Further arrests were made between 2
O'Clock and daylight, when forty-six men,
all railroad employes-conductors, brake
men, fremen and engineers-were behind
the bars.
In speaking of the arrests q prominent
officer of the Panhandle Road said: "For
three years past the Panhandle Road has
been Systematically robbed. Cars on sidings
and cars in moving trains were broken
open and goods stolen, including every
description of merchandise 1t is esti-
mated that at least $500, 900 worth of goods
were taken. for which the company had to
pay. In August last we got clew, and
the company determined to push it to the
end. Detectives were employed, who fol-
lowed up every scent, and finally we had
the information upon which to pro-
ceed. When everything was ready
we decided to make a move all along
the line from Columbus to Pittsburg, and
2 O'Clock this morning was fixed to strike
the blow. About eighty warrants were is
sued for men in Pittsburg. 1 can't tell
how many for other places, but it was at
every point along the line. 1t will run up
in the hundreds. 1t is the biggest thing of
the kind that ever happened in Pittsburg,
or in the world. for nothing like 1t has
ever happened before. can not tell who
the men are under arrest, or who the ring
leaders are. This much / will say, how
ever. We suspect outsiders Of being impli-
Gated in the robberies, bat know nothing
positive"
Among those arrested was a man named
Baker, against whom there are thirty.eight
charges Early one morning, some months
ago, at Sheridan Station, near this city, a
train was stopped for water. An attack
was made on the crew, and in the fight the
fireman was shot; he afterward died of bis
injuries. At dsybreak it was found that
two cars had been broken open and their
contents stolen. Baker is accused of firing
the shot that killed the fireman, and this
is understood 10 be one of the thlrty.eight
charges against him.
John II. Hampton, attorney for the
Pennsylvania Company, was seen this
morning in the Office of the detective
agency, where, sitting amidst heterogene
Gus collection of plunder, he said: ''These
robberies have been carried Oh systematic
ally for several years. The company have
long been aware that there was a leakage
somewhere, and as early as September, 1856
they quietly began investigations. Detec
tives were placed on trains where the good:
could be watched and the thieves caught
We have already discovered that the cul
prits were employees of the company. In
September there we're eighty crews offreight
trains on the Panhandle Railroad comIne
into Pittsburg. OF these eighty crews nc
less than seventy-five were found to be
crooked. a crew consists of conductor
fiagman and two brakemen. In some case
all the men were involved; in others only
part The statement that the engineers anC
fremen were mixed in the robbery i:
wrong; not a single one is involved. The
goods were obtained by the thieves in va
rious ways. In many instances the seals
were broken, while in Others hatchets were
used to cut hole in the end of the car
through which the men c-awled and tool
what they coveted. Then they reported the
car in bad condition, claiming that the
hole had been made by accident. The op
erations were all the result of comb1na
tions. Arrangements were carefully
made, and each rascal was assigned to hi;
particular part of the work IN much the
came way as q bank robbery is conducted
oy professional cracksmer. / do not know
that the members OF the combination were
oath-bound or anything of that kind, but
ii Is certain that thorough understanding
existed among them, and they acted in
concert to cover one another's misdoings
A thing which alarmed us more than any
thing else was that they stole large quanti-
ties of whisky and drank it IN the
caboose. They needed vessels to hold the
liquor, so they stole milk cans and kent il
IN them. Not daring to keep whisky
openly in the cars, they tore up the flooring
and hid it underneath. Men we're contiu-
ually reported drunk on duty, and the
proDa bility of disaster was something
fightful to contemplate. All kinds ol
goods we're stolen, including sewing ma
chimes, guns, revolvers, cutlery, silverware
cigars, clothing, liquors, groceries, furni-
ture, and in fact every imaginable article
that can be carried on a car were quietly
removed. The depredations were commit.
ted all along the road, and the losers re
side at points as far west as Denver.
Fences were established IN this CITY
where The stolen property was taken and
then sold. the money being evenly divided
among the crews. IT is impossible to give
the aggregate value of the property stolen,
but IL viii not reach 500. 600. az reported"
The arrests have caused the greatest ex-
eitement among the railroad employees OF
the city. The scenes about the Jail doors
this morning, where relatives had gathered
TO learn the cause of the arrests were oil
the saddest description. Wives, children,
parents, brothers and sisters, with tear
stained faces, stood around the entrance to
the prison eager to hear the latest develop
mems and pleading with the officers for
admission TO the Jail to see the prisoners.
A. o'clock Ten more arrests we're re-